kielbasa and rice

this is easy, peasy, fast, and tasty! chop up 2 stalks of celery, half a large onion, bell pepper (however much you want), and one kielbasa. throw it all in a large skillet that has a lid and let it brown in a few tablespoons of olive oil. once the sausage and onions have some crispy yummy brown edges add one package of mahatma saffron rice, stir. let this sizzle for a minute or two then add one can petite diced tomatoes, fill the can with water (not quite to the top) and pour into the skillet. bring everything to a low boil then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 18 minutes. viola, dinner is served! with crackers and franks hot sauce.

tabbouleh quinoa a la cottage

here's a quickie for you. juice one lemon, chop one handful of parsley, mince two raw cloves of garlic, dice one large cucumber, dice two tomatoes, slice three whole green onions, combine in a bowl and refrigerate. prepare quinoa (one cup seeds, two cups water. bring to a boil then simmer for 16 minutes on low) and cool. stir quinoa into veggies once it has cooled with enough olive oil to keep it from being dry, be generous with the olive oil. salt and pepper to taste.

tandoori meets tagine

ah, chicken. how do i love thee? in this case, skinned and baked to bits with Moroccan preserved lemons! so, i found myself thinking back to roundtree casbah, an evening of friends, food, and music, par excellence. in particular i loved the lemon chicken, if you are now picturing schilling lemon chicken sauteed on the stove: stop right there. this chicken bears as much resemblance to that as the dilapidated ponies at the county fair "cowboy ride" do to the winner at the derby. first get a whole chicken and divest it of it's skin. it's not the most pleasant task but not too difficult, actually. rinse the chicken well and let it sit and dry while you combine in a food processor (or by chopping) a handful of fresh cilantro, two cloves of garlic, and one half of a preserved lemon. the preserved lemon sounds fancy, but it's not. meyer lemons work best, simply cut into them with out going all the way through from end to end cross ways (so it looks quartered but is hanging together by the pithy bits at the pointy ends) then rub with kosher salt liberally, stuff into a jar and top with a bit more salt. let them hang out in the back of the fridge for about a week and you're set. we all know that i'm not a kitchen fiddler but these little babies are worth it. what's more, they're easy and potent, each whole chicken only takes one or two lemons. if you really don't have the time or ambition you can try fresh lemons, but it's just not the same. so, back to the chicken. ummm. add to the processor some plain yogurt (the tandoori is coming in now) so that you have a thick, creamy paste. layer the bottom of a large dutch oven with onion slices and lay the chicken on top, breast up. rub the mix all over the chicken inside and out, place one half of a preserved lemon inside the bird and tuck one quarter in the nook below each breast. add a handful of dried apricots, some in the bird, some around or under. sprinkle the bird with ras al hout (Moroccan spice mix) if you want to or just some cinnamon will do, put the lid on and put in the oven at 350 for two hours. after two hours flip the chicken breast side down and cook for another hour. you now have a delicious chicken and some lovely broth on your hands. personally i got three meals out of this. i served it for dinner carved with quinoa tabbouleh, in tortillas for lunch the next day, then i picked the bones and simmered lentils in the broth to thicken it to stew and served that over rice. it never got old, and i can't wait to make it again.

egg plant stir fry

so, i bought an egg plant the other day with the intention of making egg plant parmesan. for a variety of reasons this did not happen. i found myself today staring at said egg plant which had gone ever so slightly wrinkly in my fridge and dreading the inevitable breading-frying-baking fiasco. and then i thought of a woman that i used to work with, she loved egg plant something or other from panda express. i want to say that i in no way support panda express, i find their food intolerable in the extreme. because of this i have no idea what the egg plant in question even looks like. the idea, however, had merritt. so, out of the cupboard came a can of bamboo shoots, four cloves of garlic got minced, three quarters of a large red bell pepper got diced and the wok got put over high heat with a generous amount of vegetable oil. everything got dumped in together once the wok was hot with a splash of seasoned rice wine vinegar for good measure. once the vinegar had cooked down until it smelled better (i'm not joking about this, use your nose, it'll mellow in about three minutes) i put the lid on so it could soften up. after about five minutes with the lid on i added some lee kum kee oyster sauce, because yan can cook with it and i can too. the result: good. i'm sure it came out exactly how egg plant lovers all across the globe want their egg plant to come out. hubby and i, however, are not egg plant lovers, so this is not a new family favorite. it may hit the table again some day though. to those of you who have not tried it, i can only say you should give it a shot. you may fall in love, or at least you can check off something on your list of veggies untried.

salad dressing

has anyone else read the labels on salad dressing lately? i'm not crazy into purity in my food or anything, but does dressing really need to contain ten things that i can't pronounce? really? i have this year embarked on an adventure into home made salad dressing. why this simple condiment intimidated me for so long, i have no idea. i'm proud to say that i now can turn out a variety of dressings easily enough, most without the help of my itty bitty food processor. two of my favorites are 1: dijon mustard, lemon juice (fresh please), olive oil, raw minced garlic (again, fresh please), and what ever sort of fresh chopped herbs you like; 2: a small can of mandarin oranges with half of their juices, seasoned rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, grated ginger, pepper. the general method i employ is to mix the dressing in the salad bowl and let it sit for a bit, then right before dinner toss the lettuce in the dressing and top with nuts, veggies, croutons, etc. try it out, it's worth it! not only is it tastier, cheaper, and fresher, you'll know exactly what you're eating.

green onions: it's all good people

i love green onions, from their furry little eye watering feet to their crispy crunchy verdant tops. every bit of them is good. i'm tired of seeing one end or the other get the scrap-heap treatment! clean them, slice them, let them shine! the white part can be a bit strong, i admit. my solution: slice that end finely and add it at the beginning of the cooking process of what ever dish you are making, add the greens at the end so they retain their lovely crunch. or brazen it out, serve them raw all the way with dip or in salad. they're lovely grilled whole and plopped on top of bbq steaks, or sliced length wise in stir fry like multi colored noodles that bite back. to know them is to love them, every inch. you may want to invest in some gum, however.

campout chili

we love chili in this house. all kinds of chili, but especially verde varieties. a word on this: to my mind if i put the basic elements in a pot: meat, beans, chilies, i consider that i have made chili. i don't want to hear about how it's not chili with out blah blah blah like your abuelita or auntie so and so made it. one thing i never do is doctor canned chili, i consider that to be cheating, other than that anything goes. so into this pot which this time happened to be precariously balanced on rocks in a campfire ring at the local lake went 1.5 pounds of ground beef to brown with a liberal dose of salt and pepper. once that had sizzled down but was not completely cooked in went one large can of black beans, one roughly diced yellow onion (if it doesn't make you cry, don't use it for chili!), one diced pasilla chili, three diced cloves of garlic, one teaspoon cumin, one and a half teaspoons paprika, and just for good measure a bit more black pepper. all of this simmered for about to ten minutes, you'll have to adjust time for cursing smoke in the eyes and turning the pot because only one side was getting heat. then four large ortega chilies were diced and added to the pot with their juices, the lid was put on and all was cooked until most of the onions were translucent. note that i specified that the onion be a rough chop. it's more interesting texture wise to have some larger chunks of onion that maintain a bit of crunch if you ask me. so, assuming you agree, some onions are still white at the middle while some others have all but disappeared. in goes a large can of pinto beans, mostly but not completely drained. stir and simmer till you just can't stand it! we dug into ours with some saltine crackers while hail pounded the screen tent over our picnic table, but i'm sure it would be good at a nice, cozy dining table too.